Conor McGregor Camp Denies Commission Claim He’s Off UFC 219

Conor McGregor caused quite the stir after jumping into the cage at Bellator 187 in Dublin last Friday and getting into an altercation with referee Marc Goddard. He issued a formal apology online today but stuck to the stance that he was simply angered that Goddard would even have considered letting Ward’s dazed opponent John Redmond continue. […]

The post Conor McGregor Camp Denies Commission Claim He’s Off UFC 219 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Conor McGregor caused quite the stir after jumping into the cage at Bellator 187 in Dublin last Friday and getting into an altercation with referee Marc Goddard.

He issued a formal apology online today but stuck to the stance that he was simply angered that Goddard would even have considered letting Ward’s dazed opponent John Redmond continue.

While McGregor may have seen it as simply coming in to celebrate an SBG teammate’s big win, the powers that be saw differently. So much so that the sanctioning bodies that be are pushing for the UFC lightweight champion to be punished, essentially targeting his possible inclusion on the upcoming UFC 219 card.

ABC President Mike Mazzulli, who was cageside during McGregor’s outburst, claimed the brash Irishman has already been sanctioned by the UFC during an appearance on The MMA Hour:

“They already sanctioned him,” Mazzulli said. “So they did hit him. He’s not gonna be making any more money this year and I commend UFC for that. I really do.”

“There’s a zero tolerance for that,” Mazzulli said. “That’s why I said when you are a professional at that level, you have to handle yourself as a professional. There’s a lot of people that are looking up to you and respecting you as an individual, as a fighter. Don’t get me wrong, Conor McGregor is a great, great fighter. I’ve watched every single fight of his and that’s what I do, this is my job.

“But when it comes to what he did to Mr. Goddard and [Bellator employee] Michael Johnson, what would possess somebody to do that? Like I said, if it was at Mohegan, I guarantee you that the Mohegan Tribe Police Department would be removing Mr. Conor. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Mazzulli continued on to offer his stance that McGregor was not bigger than the sport as a whole despite his behavior suggesting otherwise. In closing, Mazzulli said that McGregor was simply acting incredibly unprofessional, which was the stark opposite of how a champion on his level should behave at an event:

“Mr. McGregor is not bigger than MMA,” Mazzulli said. “We all know that. Mr. McGregor may not be around in five years, but MMA will still be. I think that is very important to understand, that fighter safety is the most important thing in the world. Because without fighter safety, this sport would not proceed to the next level like it always has.”

“First of all, I’m never comfortable when somebody takes it upon himself to act like a 5-year-old and jump in the cage,” Mazzulli said. “The bottom line is he was unprofessional, he was disrespectful and it was not acceptable in my eyes. In any situation. I don’t care if it’s anybody else jumping in the cage. We don’t do that as a professional.”

MMAFighting.com reached out to McGregor’s camp upon getting word of Mazzulli’s comment, to which his agent Audie Attar said Mazzulli’s claims were “not true.”

McGregor has not been officially added to UFC 219, but there have been several rumors that a fight between the lightweight champion and interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson could headline the December 30th event in Las Vegas.

Do you believe McGregor should be punished for his actions at Bellator 187, and if so, should it go as far to remove him from potentially the biggest UFC pay-per-view event of the year?

The post Conor McGregor Camp Denies Commission Claim He’s Off UFC 219 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Tony Ferguson Promises To ‘Stockton Slap The Sh*t Out Of Diaz’

While UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor ponders his next move, Tony Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight belt in the main event of October 7’s UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With McGregor’s coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having […]

The post Tony Ferguson Promises To ‘Stockton Slap The Sh*t Out Of Diaz’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

While UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor ponders his next move, Tony Ferguson will take on Kevin Lee for the interim lightweight belt in the main event of October 7’s UFC 216 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With McGregor’s coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having none of it.

Conventional wisdom would state that McGregor would fight the winner of that fight as they are the interim champion and deserving of the next title shot, but based on the Irish champ’s style of picking fights, that may not be the case. With McGregor, his coach and many others hoping for a trilogy match with Nate Diaz, Ferguson is having none of it.

“El Cucuy” has been vocal about McGregor defending his lightweight title, but the Irishman has failed to do so since winning it against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. Ferguson went off on the idea of McGregor vs. Diaz III when asked by Submission Radio (via MMA Fighting):

I believe that they absolutely need to. If that’s my belt and he has the belt, they need to unify both belts. F**k that Nate Diaz three shit. Both those b**ches f**in – they want to try and act like they want to go and make money. Nate don’t want to fight. He’s trying to recover from a f**king hit that he took with his management and all that other things. McGregor’s gotta defend or vacate. He’s gotta defend that belt, he needs to come back. If not, there goes his legacy, there goes the UFC s**t. I mean, really, legitimately, why do we have rankings? Why do we have a belt system? Why do we have all this other stuff?

“In ultimate reality, I don’t give two f**ks. The fight that’s the most important at hand is the one that’s most important and that’s the one motherf**kers need to get excited about, because obviously everybody f**king knows what the f**k I can do to Nate Diaz.

““And look, there goes my swearing jar. I haven’t acted like I needed to get my s**t together for my kid, but like, straight up, you guys want me to talk about those other fighters? They’re a bunch of b**ches. They want to go and they want to talk – look, we can f**king put this s**t out on video and we can make this a money fight. If you guys really wanna get gangster, let’s do that s**t. If you want to f**king put on money, let’s put it on paper, Nate. I will f**king Stockton slap the s**t out of you kid. You don’t f**king know me, dude. Straight up. Same thing with Conor McGregor. You guys are a bunch of b**ches and you guys are a bunch of fakes. If you wanna fight while we’re here in the UFC, why don’t you come and sign on the dotted line after you get your s**t together and defend your f**king belt, Conor.”

Do you think McGregor should fight the winner of Ferguson vs Lee upon his return? Or should he complete his trilogy with Diaz, the only man to beat him in the UFC?

The post Tony Ferguson Promises To ‘Stockton Slap The Sh*t Out Of Diaz’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Nate Diaz Doesn’t Have Good News About The Rest Of 2017

With the first four months devoid of fights that drive fans’ interest, the collective MMA world was wishing Nate Diaz would finally reveal a blockbuster return when he spoke to Ariel Helwani on a special episode of “The MMA Hour” today. But the opposite is unfortunately true, as Diaz revealed he hasn’t spoken much with

The post Nate Diaz Doesn’t Have Good News About The Rest Of 2017 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

With the first four months devoid of fights that drive fans’ interest, the collective MMA world was wishing Nate Diaz would finally reveal a blockbuster return when he spoke to Ariel Helwani on a special episode of “The MMA Hour” today.

But the opposite is unfortunately true, as Diaz revealed he hasn’t spoken much with UFC President Dana White nor the new owners at WME-IMG, so rumors of him facing Tony Ferguson for an interim lightweight title while Conor McGregor chases a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather are just that – rumors:

“Dana White, we haven’t talked too much. That’s why I’m saying; I wonder what’s their deal, and what they wanna do. I’m hearing rumors and I feel a lot of pressure, people always like tell me this. I’m fighting Ferguson, and I’m doing this, and Conor’s sitting out, and Conor’s manager sitting there saying I need to impress someone. I’m like, what the fuck? You guys need to fight each other and impress me. The real gold’s right here. It’s funny to me how Conor McGregor’s manager says I need to light a fire under McGregor’s ass to get a third fight. The real champ is right here. They can light a fire under my ass.

The younger Diaz brother previously stated he would only return for a trilogy match with McGregor, a bout he wants $20 million to participate in. With no concrete plans – or even preliminary discussions – to return to the octagon, Diaz expressed his anger at McGregor’s attempt to fight Mayweather, citing his belief that everyone seems to have forgotten he submitted the Irishman in their first meeting at March 2016’s UFC 196:

“Conor is a fucking bitch. He got choked. If Floyd beats Conor who cares, I already beat his ass. Everybody seems to have forgot what happened. I don’t even want a third fight. Fuck Conor. He can go fuck himself. I don’t owe anybody any favors. I’d like to be treated with a little bit more respect.“

Diaz then stated his intention to sit out for the rest of 2017 without an offer on the table. Even if you think he has to fight to make money, he said he absolutely does not. With a whole host of lucrative opportunities available in the commercial cannabis industry, Diaz said the weed world is simply throwing cash at him, showing a jar of Kush to Helwani:

“In one year I got the two biggest selling pay-per-views in UFC history. I’m not going to die off. The cannabis industry is throwing money at me.”

Diaz was reportedly offered a fight with former champion Eddie Alvarez at next week’s UFC 211, but actually took offense to the offer, which he insisted Alvarez turned down on the first place based on the onetime Bellator champion’s performance against a man he submitted earlier last year:

“They called me about the Eddie Alvarez fight. Eddie Alvarez had his chance. Eddie’s ass turned it down. Do you want the Eddie Alvarez fight? How dare you? You just got melted by the guy I beat up.”

The post Nate Diaz Doesn’t Have Good News About The Rest Of 2017 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.